


The Other Side

by sortingthesockbasket



Series: Smaug in the Shire [1]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (Movies), The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: AU, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cumbersmaug, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, Human Smaug, LoTR spoilers, M/M, Smauglock, Spoilers, smaugbo, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-15
Updated: 2014-08-15
Packaged: 2018-02-13 08:14:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2143542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sortingthesockbasket/pseuds/sortingthesockbasket
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bilbo and Frodo leave on Elrond's ship--but Smaug gets left behind (bonus happy ending because I made myself sad). From an AU I'm writing where Smaug didn't die but went home with Bilbo :D</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

 

He never even got to say goodbye.

 

Frodo had taken Bilbo on the covered wagon while Smaug slumbered beneath Bag End. Bilbo had never gotten around to bidding Smaug farewell. Now, the dragon's great wings drowned out the thunder through which he flew in his haste to catch one last glimpse of his beloved. Curse the elves and their swiftness!

Smaug landed on the beach a ways down from the pier where Bilbo's ship would leave. Smaug's heart was cracking, breaking, begging him to run to Bilbo, to defend him to his last breath and let the elves slay him, because, without Bilbo, Smaug no longer wanted to live. Doing so, however, would cause Bilbo terrible pain, and Smaug could not bear to cause him that. He watched through suspiciously blurry eyes as Frodo and Bilbo bade their friends farewell, and when Bilbo's feet touched the smooth elf-ship's deck, the first tear of flame slid down Smaug's scaly cheek, hitting the wet sand with a hiss and a plume of steam.When it cooled, the steam cleared away, revealing a perfect, tear-shaped diamond, glowing from within.

Smaug paid it no mind, a crime in and of itself. The only discovered dragon tear lay buried with Thorin, called the Arkenstone. Dragon tears were very rare and very valuable, and to betray any to another race was high treason, indeed. Smaug no longer cared. He would shed many more tears this day, he knew, but he cared not up with whom they ended. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered, because Bilbo was gone.

Oh, Smaug had known that the day would come when he should be forced to bid Bilbo his Last Farewell, but he had not expected it to come so soon. As the ship pulled away from the docks, sailing out along the sun's path in the gilded waves of twilight, the first terrible, heart-wrenching cry of mourning tore from Smaug's throat.

The grief of a dragon is a rare sight, and night unbearable. It was a scream, the scream of ultimate suffering, ripped from that cavernous chest. Once he started, Smaug could not cease his heartbroken wailing. As the dragon's awful moans and screams echoed across the waves, animals cowered in their shelters, mothers clutching their young to their breast as the ragged cries plucked at their heartstrings. On the dock, Merry and Pippin and Sam clung to each other, because they knew the maker of that sound. But the elven ships did not stop their slow, graceful passage across the seas, and at last, Smaug could bear it no more. Pulling the piles of glowing white stones from the beach, he bore them in his claws as he flew after his heart, which had been torn out of him. He knew he would tire, and he knew he would fall to the mercy of the waves when he did, but it no longer mattered.

His Bilbo was gone from him.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> here is the promised happy ending :D

Frodo held tightly to his uncle as the elderly hobbit sobbed on his shoulder, clutching a deep red scale to his chest.

"Take me back, Frodo!" he begged. "Take me back! Please, he needs me, Frodo!"

"I cannot, Uncle," Frodo whispered, watching as the elves froze in terror, eyes wide as they searched for the dragon who was in such pain as to make that sound. "I cannot, and it pains me to deny you, but so help me, I cannot."

Elrond stared back at the shore, the dragon's screams playing chords on his heartstrings as fierce and terrible as if they were the claws of the beast himself ripping Elrond apart as he had been ripped apart. And then, Elrond knew the dragon who cried out in such agony, knew the cause, and knew the solution. He spun, turning from the prow and sweeping tensely to the hobbits, who sat on barrels on the deck

"Bilbo Baggins!" Elrond thundered. "For heaven's sake, call Smaug to you! It is cruel to make him suffer so!"

Bilbo started bolt upright, not sure he had heard Elrond right. "What?" he said, wiping his eyes.

"Your dragon!" Elrond repeated. "Stars, Bilbo, why did you not tell me you kept him with you? We would have had him with us from the beginning, and saved him this pain!

Bilbo needed no further encouragement. Spry as a hobbit Frodo's age, he tore from his nephew's embrace, barreling to the bow. Sticking two fingers in his mouth, he gave a sharp, piercing whistle, an eerie, discordant note not loved by elf or man or dwarf or hobbit. It was a code, long agreed-upon between himself and Smaug, code for, "I need you!"

Smaug could barely believe his ears. With a fierce and terrible roar, the dragon raced for the boat, wings leaving great displacement in the ocean hundreds of meters below when he flapped them, well proving their reputation as a hurricane.

The elves stared in wonder at the magnificent creature as he burst through the clouds, carrying great handfuls of shining white stones in his talons. In a burst of fire that rocked the ships and singed the wood, the dragon shifted form to a man-sized creature, bearing still wings and horns and tail, glowing stones the size of two fists raining to the deck like a hail of falling stars as he dove for Bilbo at speeds that made hawks seem bloated chickens.

Bilbo sobbed in relief as the dragon's arms enveloped him in a fierce, tight embrace, coattails flapping in the wind of his landing, the protective circle of his wings tinting the light red as blood.

" _Mine_ ," Smaug rumbled, voice terrifying as ever, holding Bilbo close to him. "Oh, my love," he whispered, kissing Bilbo's white hair, "I thought you gone from me forever."

"Oh, _Smaug_ ," Bilbo managed, throat choked with emotion. He'd missed this, Smaug's warmth, the way he smelled of smoke and fire and metal and cinnamon-y dragon-musk.

"Know this, ye elves," Smaug rumbled, clutching Bilbo close to him, wings opening to an aggressive, threatening flare, "if you try again to take him from me, I will not rest until I have burnt every last one of you to ash and cinder. I will tear your cities down, I will burn your forests, I will rip your monuments apart brick by brick. This hobbit is mine, and no force can tear me from him, nor honeyed words, nor bribery."

Elrond approached the dragon with caution, offering him a graceful bow. "We did not bear him from you intentionally, O Smaug," he said. "You have our deepest apologies that we did so. We knew not that he was your mate. Welcome aboard, dragon.

A low, warning growl rumbled from Smaug's chest, but it faded. "I see no lie in your heart, Elven King," the dragon said. "Had you lied to me, you would none of you have seen the light of another day." He dipped his head, a serpentine movement of sinuous grace. "Your apology is accepted." He released Bilbo, but the end of his tail wrapped around the hobbit's wrist. "Come, Bilbo. Frodo is anxious to speak with us." He looked down at the charming little creature who had burgled his heart away, and could resist no longer. He leaned down and kissed him, cradling his face in clawed hands, without care as to who saw. The one who thought himself elevated enough to challenge a dragon would find himself crisped before he could open his mouth

Elrond said nothing, merely nodding to his lieutenants to carry on with their work. The ships came alive again, and when Smaug finally pulled away to let Bilbo breathe, Frodo tackled the dragon's side, holding him tightly.

"Uncle Smaug!" he said gladly. "I'm overjoyed you could make it!"

Smaug rumbled softly, wrapping an arm around Frodo's shoulders and hugging him to him. "Yes, young Frodo. I would follow you and Bilbo beyond the ends of the earth.

"Why, Smaug," Bilbo said, stooping to pick up one of the white jewels, "this looks so like the Arkenstone. Wherever did you get it?"

Smaug smiled sadly, baring his viciously serrated fangs to the onlookers, summoning the stones to him with a thought and a pull of his magic. "They are the tears of a dragon, Bilbo," he said quietly. "As was the Arkenstone.

"Really?" Frodo asked.

Smaug nodded.

"Let us retire to our quarters to discuss it," Bilbo suggested. "I don't know about you, but I am quite worn out by today's adventures."

Smaug smiled wider. Holding his hobbit close, he let Frodo lead them belowdecks to their quarters. His relief to be with Bilbo once more was nigh palpable. Now, nothing mattered, because he had Bilbo with him, and all was well.

**Author's Note:**

> I was listening to "The Other Side" by Sirenia and got feels. Have an un-beta'd 20 minute writing exercise.


End file.
